Sittig receives Scout award

The Evangeline Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America presented Dale Sittig with the City of Eunice Distinguished Citizen award Thursday night at Ruby’s Restaurant and Courtyard in Eunice.
“I am honored to be here tonight and honored that all of you are here,” Sittig said. “It has been a good ride for me — 34 years. I can remember when I decided to run for state representative. I appreciate all the people I have met over the years. I was never one to not return a phone call or not see someone. I don’t care it was a problem I couldn’t help them with or not.”
He continued, “Thank y’all. I really appreciate this. It has certainly been a good ride and good way for me to not say bye, because I am going to continue being involved and trying to help those that I can.”
Sittig graduated from Eunice High School in 1959. He is the director of the Louisiana Offshore Terminal Authority. From 1995 to 2008, Sittig served as a member of the state’s public service commission, and from 1983 to 1995, he served as state representative.
When he served on the Public Service Commission, Sittig was influential in obtaining lighting for the LSUE baseball field, allowing the team to play at home at night for the first time ever.
Sittig is married to the former Celine Evelyn Broussard. They have three sons, Mitchell, Kurt and Neil, and a daughter, Celeste Sittig brossard.
Prior to the award presentation, Pat Manuel, at-large appointee on the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, and St. Landry Parish District Attorney Earl Taylor paid tribute to Sittig. The three men have known each other for many years, and Manuel has known him since childhood.
“During the governor’s race after Dale got elected, those of us on the committee to get him elected, some were for (Dave) Treen and some were for (Edwin) Edwards,” Manuel said. “We had some interesting meetings if you will, but some kind of way, he manipulated us, and we’d all smile and he’d lead the meetings, so every thing was fine. He had that ability to put those things together for people of different interests.
“I appreciated those things and I think those on the other side politically, appreciate it also. It wasn’t hard to follow his lead.”
Manuel highlighted Sittig’s traits of loyalty and forgiveness.
“One of the Scouts’ traits is loyalty,” Manuel said. “When Sittig got elected to the legislature in ‘83, John Hainkel, the speaker of the house, befriended him. We had a new governor coming in, and Hainkel wasn’t going to win the speakers’ race, But Dale committed to be with him and he was one of the 29 votes to get beat. But he was loyal and had a loyal following for that.”
He continued, “When Dale got elected to Public Service Commission, most of the staff of the existing of the commission were against him. My suggestions were to fire them all or transfer them or do whatever he had to do. He kept all of them on until they were able to fulfill their commitment. I thought that was a big deal.”
Manuel also told the crowd how Sittig gave leftover campaign money to churches, schools, cancer patients, civic organizations and even the Boy Scouts.
“He didn’t keep any money for himself,” he added.
Taylor commended Sittig’s role as a public servant.
“A life dedicated to serving others is what you have done,” Taylor said. “You have a lifetime of public service.”
He continued, “I talked with Dale as a state representative and public service commissioner. This is what I can tell you about my observations of Dale — he’s honest. As a state representative, we often went to him with problems and things we wanted. We didn’t always get what we wanted, but we never walked away from there believing that he had another agenda other than helping people. Also, when you went to Dale and and he committed to you, you had his word.”
Taylor recalled having to get in touch with Sittig when he found out he couldn’t get electricity in a new house he was moving into. Taylor said in less than 48 hours, the power was on in the home.
“It is said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, and you care,” Taylor said. “I can always remember in our campaign meetings when the question came up of what to do, you would always say, ‘Do the right thing and when you do the right thing, everything will be all right’ and you always did the right thing. The Boy Scouts are doing the right thing by honoring you as Distinguished Citizen because you are, in fact, you are a distinguished citizen and I am proud to know you.”
Brian Thompson, Acadia Boy Scouts of America district chairman, presented Sittig with the award.
“The Distinguished Citizen award honors an individual of noteworthy and extraordinary leadership of citizens in acadiana,” Thompson said. “Honoring distinguished citizenship delivers a message to our youth that character counts. The lives of distinguished citizens put into place guideposts that serve to inspire our youth to lead, accept responsibility and to care about principles and causes beyond self interest.”